IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v15y2025i3p21582440251367144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Personality and Second Language Learning: Trends and Insights from a Bibliometric Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Menglin Li
  • Wei Xu

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between personality types among second language (L2) learners through a bibliometric analysis. Personality traits, particularly the Big Five, are recognized as key predictors of L2 success. However, despite numerous empirical findings, the strength and nature of these correlations often show significant inconsistencies. Utilizing CitNetExplorer and VOSviewer, this study analyzes 161 research articles sourced from the Web of Science database. The analysis highlights major contributors, organizations, and countries in this field, emphasizing the impactful work of highly cited scholars, as well as leading research regions. The findings indicate that Openness, Conscientiousness, and possibly Agreeableness are significantly correlated with L2 achievement, while Neuroticism tends to show marginal or no correlation. These general trends are complicated by methodological inconsistencies in measures of L2 achievement and personality assessment tools. This study advocates standardized protocols for cross-cultural research and suggests further exploration using alternative personality measures. Additionally, personalizing teaching strategies based on learners’ personality types may enhance L2 outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Menglin Li & Wei Xu, 2025. "Personality and Second Language Learning: Trends and Insights from a Bibliometric Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:3:p:21582440251367144
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440251367144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440251367144
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440251367144?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:15:y:2025:i:3:p:21582440251367144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.